Why Nashville?

Nashville is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.

Businesses are moving their headquarters and corporate operations to the city because of the booming economy. Companies like Amazon, AT&T, Bridgestone, Dell, Lowe’s, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Dollar General, & iHeartMedia.

Post COVID, many people work solely online which allows them to live in Nashville at a lower cost of living while making Los Angeles, New York City, or Chicago pay.

The world is coming to Nashville with its foreign born population doubling in the last decade.

According to Barna Research 70% of Nashville would identify as "Christian" while only 10% actively follow Jesus.

"You've always wanted to live in a big city and you love country music."

So, this one doesn't sound real spiritual or even moving. However, it’s exactly what my brother said to me when I mentioned moving to the city I felt God had called me to start a church.

I called my brother in March of 2021 to tell him that it was time. God has placed a heavy burden on my heart to go and start a church. His question, and the question everyone asks after that was, where? I had no idea. I just knew I had to be faithful to take the next step in starting the process of going.

Over the next few months I spent time in prayer, fasting, and in conversations with friends, fellow pastors, and mentors. One of them mentioned the need for churches in cities like St. Louis, Kansas City, Little Rock…and oh yea, Nashville. I’ll admit, those first three are great cities, but nothing excited me about them. Then I heard Nashville. There was something different about Nashville. What? I didn't know. But I had to find out for myself.

I began to research and learn a little more about the city. Having never spent time there it was all completely new to me other than the obvious: it was a big city, a bachelorette party hot spot, and the home to my favorite genre of music.

After learning all the demographics, statistics, and the influx of people moving to the city I decided, before ever taking a trip, that this was it.

So, what did I do next? I called my brother back. Having not mentioned to him my research or thoughts on any particular city I said, “Chase, I think I know where I’m going to start a church” He said, “I bet I can guess the city”. I laughed because I knew he would never guess it. I’ve never been there or talked about it. He said “I bet it’s Nashville.” Confused, I asked how he knew. He said “You’ve always wanted to live in a big city and you love country music.”

He was right. I'm thrilled to live in Nashville, TN and even more excited to have a purpose and a call.

As you read through the website you’ll see what I discovered on my journey to learning about music city. The statements above are just a few of the things I found to be true about Nashville.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

About Nashville

Size

Nashville is the largest city in Tennessee and currently the 20th largest city in the United States with just under 2 million people in the metropolitan area.

It has seen dramatic growth since 2020 due to its healthy job market and relatively low cost of living.

80 people move to Nashville every day.

Diversity

There are 52 colleges or universities within Davidson county leading to a large number of college students and young adults.

The foreign-born population has nearly doubled over the last decade and makes up about 12% of the population.

Major employers in Nashville include Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nissan, and Amazon. All of these contribute to the diversity of people and ages that call Nashville home.

Nashville is defined by its 21 neighborhoods, each with their own distinct personality and character. From the industrial downtown area known as The Gulch, to the new developments in SoBro, to the creative and culturally diverse corner of East Nashville.

Spiritual Need

Since the 1990’s, the religious share of Christians has decreased, while Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikhism, and other religions have spread, mainly from immigration.

Nashville is a resettlement spot for refugees from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

According to the “Freedom From Religion Foundation” which has a strong presence in Nashville states, “The ‘Nones’ (those of us unaffiliated with religion) are now 29 percent of the U.S. population. We are the largest ‘denomination’ by religious identification!”

Why Church Planting?

"We plant churches so we can fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples."

Ed Stetzer

1. New churches best reach the unchurched.

The average new church gains most of its new members (60–80%) from the ranks of people who are not attending any worshiping body, while churches over ten to fifteen years of age gain 80–90 percent of new members by transfer from other congregations. This means the average new congregation will bring six to eight times more new people into the life of the body of Christ than an older congregation of the same size.

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2. New Churches best reach new generations, new residents, and new people groups.

New congregations engage and empower new people and new peoples much more quickly and readily than established churches. This means not only that we need church planting so that frontier regions or unevangelized countries can become Christian, but also that Christian countries will have to maintain vigorous, extensive church planting simply to stay Christian.

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3. New churches help renew the whole body of Christ.

New churches bring about new ideas, develop new leaders, challenge others churches to self-examination, and can be an ‘evangelistic feeder’ for the whole community.

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